Build Back Better Act

The coronavirus pandemic has shone a bright light on the structural inequities that that have long existed in our communities, which has contributed to negative health, economic, and social well-being in Black communities throughout the country. To ensure that our country recovers equitably from the devastating impacts of COVID-19, we must invest in the factors that influence health and well-being.

President Biden’s Build Back Better Act includes monumental investments in health, social, and economic factors that significantly impact the public health of Black Californians. The Build Back Better bill, which is currently going through Congressional negotiations, will address health and social inequities by:

Reducing homelessness and housing instability, particularly through a substantial investment in Housing Choice Vouchers

Reducing homelessness and housing instability, particularly through a substantial investment in Housing Choice Vouchers, which bridge the gap between households’ incomes and the cost of housing. The bill’s expansion of this highly effective program would reduce homelessness and other hardship for people who struggle most to afford a home, with more than two-thirds (71 percent) of those assisted being people of color (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities).

Lowering prescription drug costs

Lowering prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate for fair prescription drug prices, and extending those lower negotiated prices to private insures so that everyone can benefit. People in California stand to save as much as $6.4 billion in prescription drug costs in just one year if the Build Back Better plan becomes law (Health Access).

Reducing Community Violence, which disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities

Reducing Community Violence, which disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities, by investing $5 billion towards Community Violence Initiative strategies that will help break the cycles of violence by providing critical resources to impacted communities.

Closing the Medicaid coverage gap, which would provide a pathway to coverage for more than 2 million people with incomes below the poverty line

Closing the Medicaid coverage gap, which would provide a pathway to coverage for more than 2 million people with incomes below the poverty line — 60 percent of whom are people of color — in states that haven’t adopted the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. The bill would also permanently increase premium tax credits to make marketplace coverage more affordable and help more uninsured people to enroll (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities).

Creating a broad-based, comprehensive, and progressive paid family and medical leave program

Creating a broad-based, comprehensive, and progressive paid family and medical leave program, addressing a major gap in the nation’s caregiving infrastructure, particularly for workers of color, who are less likely to have access to any family and medical leave, paid or unpaid (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2021).

Decreasing child poverty, narrowing long-standing racial disparities in child poverty rates, and helping more children reach their full potential

Creating a broad-based, comprehensive, and progressive paid family and medical leave program, addressing a major gap in the nation’s caregiving infrastructure, particularly for workers of color, who are less likely to have access to any family and medical leave, paid or unpaid (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2021).

For additional information regarding the Build Back Better Act and what is at stake for California’s health, check out this fact-sheet from one of CBHN’s statewide partners, Health Access.